My next door neighbor trained religiously with her Team in Training crew and had a great time at her first triathlon. The result? Not only is she in great shape but she's fallen head over heels in love with cycling (and Lance Armstrong). This weekend I'm helping her decide on a new bike (something all carbon, for around $2,000).

The real irony is that these organizations are doing a much better job at getting Americans on bikes than the bike industry ever has. I think we should be thankful that these charityorganizations are doing so much marketing and recruiting for our sport. Dealers should stay abreast about charity rides in their area and plan their marketing, promotions and product selection around them.

This charity riding trend might fizzle out, but once we've hooked people on riding bikes, they'll be enthusiasts for life.

Comments

I think the tipping point was reached a long time ago. Several years ago our club had a very hard time picking a date for our fall century, as the local calendar was so crowded with rides. Trying to get people to do a century for no good reason is getting difficult. It used to be a rite of passage for all serious cyclists to ride 100 miles in a day. Now if you are not battling MS, AIDS or peanut allergy people are not interested.